It was a match we were never in. It was our third straight loss at home. We gave up over 30 points, not for the first time.
So it was bad.
But how bad?
Given the circumstances - disrupted preparation with injuries and short turnarounds, and playing a bloody good side with their confidence very high - my opinion hasn't changed. Our team is a fair way off but the attitude is there and the will to fight, and there is still such a lot of improvement in them.
If we can get Snake, Tom T, Jorge, Api, and Buhrer (did I miss anyone) back on field, without losing 6 others, and get the same team playing a few weeks in row, we aren't out of this yet.
For now though, Cows too good.

I'm not overly upset at all. I don't really understand why any Manly fan would be, apart from the refs, but that's league I guess. If anything, I'm very proud of the team effort tonight. It showed a lot of guts and pride in the jersey.

The effort is there, the playbook is not. It looks so clunky and im not sure what the issue is...different lineups each week, minimal training...I'm not sure.
The only time we look threatening was running a deeper line but then we drop the ball 8 out of 10 times. Frustrating!!!

Where were the six Cowboy tries scored? Through our backs.
I can see the problem. Finding a solution when there is no quality backs is the problem.
But Hiku and Gutherson both played in winning teams this round.

I'll elaborate ... The players gave their all I can't say they didn't ... But the looked lost. 5th tackle options were poor and the defensive line was terrible. All coaching issues. Time for Barrett to fkn stand up

The Cows and Broncos will go off the boil at some stage, probably a few weeks after the rep season. Whether they can then regroup and recapture their great form will depend partly on whether they pick up many injuries at that end of the year. A great season can fall apart very quickly don't forget (and if you have forgotten, just think of Manly in 2014).

Put it this way - bones is right that our structure in attack was underwhelming.
But, hard to do much work on attacking structures when our half and 5/8 have never played together, never mind the 5/8 was having his first run in the team, also our fullback is a stopgap who has never played there before for us (and scarcely played fullback for anyone), and even the hooker had only played a handful of matches with the halfback, and none with the 5/8, etc. Oh yeah, and one winger only joined the club 3 days ago!

I'm sick of all the excuses. When you are a top side, you just are. It's not something that will happen when every single thing goes your way. Every team has injuries and short turn arounds and ageing players and rookies and a quality opposition...the list goes on...you just have to win consistently or languish down the bottom half of the ladder.

We simply need to win and win often or face up to being an also-ran...it's looking like that's all we will be this season. It's an illusion to think that things just aren't going our way at the moment...the reality is we are not very good.

So it was bad.
But how bad?
Given the circumstances - disrupted preparation with injuries and short turnarounds, and playing a bloody good side with their confidence very high - my opinion hasn't changed.

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Not too bad....all things considered. At least it wasn't a 38-0 loss, which would've been really bad.